It’s a camera support rail… that I’ve heavily modified for a special reason. I’ve been looking for a way to shoot with multiple cameras on a single tripod. This combination lets me attach up to 5 cameras to a single tripod. This is really useful for video shooting as well as time-lapse (as I can get multiple angles/compositions of coverage at once).

The rail system attaches to my tripod (it matches an Arca-Swiss style plate). On the rail are two small clamps (with room for a third) to hold each camera body. At each end is a GoPro mount. This can hold 4-5 cameras at once. Cameras can be angled in each direction for 360˚ of coverage of an environment.

This is a cleaner shot of it (although it was shot in my hotel room in Tokyo, so no perfect studio lights here).

The Pieces

Here are the pieces I used to build this (and for those of you familiar with Really Right Stuff the quality is high and so are the prices).

BHERO3-B: GoPro Buckle Adapter Plate

2

$39.00

$78.00

Mini-Clamp Package

1

$110.00

$110.00

CB-EC: Camera Bar End Connector

2

$30.00

$60.00

B2-mAS: 38mm clamp with dual mounting

2

$60.00

$120.00

CB-18 Package: CB-18 and Mini Clamps

1

$245.00

$245.00

CB-18: 18-inch Camera support bar

B2-mAS: 38mm clamp with dual mounting

B2-FAB 38mm clamp with threaded socket

$613.00

Features

The clamps are a safe way to attach any camera with an Arca-Swiss style plate.

The rail has a built-in bubble level to get a straight shot.

The clamps can be repositioned side to side.

The center cameras can be mounted either direction.

The GoPro buckles work with standard GoPro mounts so you can connect the cameras.

I used the bendable knuckles included with each GoPro to create a camera that can be angled to shoot in any direction for greater flexibility.

The whole unit weighs about 5 pounds without cameras attached.

The open spaces in the bar make it lighter and allowed me to attach a Vulture Equipment Works strap for easy carrying.

I am quite pleased with how it’s turned out. I was able to easily gather a lot more options when shooting video and time-lapse (safe to say I tripled my output os usable shots).

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I love it; I’m guessing once its set and one camera is shooting you don’t touch it. Is it stable enough to carefully play with one camera while another is shooting time lapse?

I’m liking this because I’m trying to do some lapses with one camera at 140-200mm, one at 20-30mm and a gopro for UWA – all at same time with similar but slightly different angles. With the final production cutting between the various views and even repeating the zoomed in action!

On the ultra lightweight tripod I brought… to much shake to adjust. On a heavy set of sticks, its totally fine. Yes.. the shots are far enough apart that you can cut between without it feeling like a jump cut.

About Richard Harrington

Richard Harrington is the founder of RHED Pixel, a visual communications company based in Washington, D.C. He is the Publisher of Photofocus and Creative Cloud User as well as an author on Lynda.com. Rich has authored several books including From Still to Motion, Understanding Photoshop, Professional Web Video, and Creating DSLR Video.